Guest Reader

Today the children got to hear a story about making new friends called "Miss Spider's Tea Party".  Better yet, it was read to them by a guest reader:  Ms. Gates!

It is funny how a new voice can command attention to a story.

Last week we had a guest named Charlie Brown read stories on the rug.  He is a District sub employee.  Having a male reading voice is even MORE captivating!  Look who is surrounding him!

If you are ever interested in coming in and being a guest reader in our classroom, let me know!  We would love to have you share a favorite book or read one of ours!

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

Our first field trip as a Kindy class went GREAT!  The children use such good manners and enjoyed the show.

After the show, we ate our lunch in a room provided by Stages Theater.  It would not have been a good day for a picnic!

All done and waiting to get back on the bus.

Tomorrow's Field Trip

Tomorrow all K-2 students from Discovery are going to see a performance of "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse"!  The performance begins at the Stages Theater right at 10:00 so we need to leave as close to 8:50 (official school start time) as possible!!

We will be eating lunch after the performance in the lobby of the theater.  Please be sure to avoid anything with peanuts in the lunches.

After lunch we will head back to Buffalo.  We plan to arrive back at Discovery about 1:00.

I will post pictures of our adventure tomorrow as soon as I can!

Wanted for the Classroom

*  We have three pumpkins so far.  Thank you parents!!!!  Would love one or two more small ones.

*  If you are updating to a new iPod and don't have anyone to hand your old one down to, consider donating it to my classroom?  It could be a tax deduction and I would love to be able to put all my school songs and stories in one spot ~ easier to find and play!

Today's Art Work

Your child should be bringing home a painting today.  This was painted on Friday after our first art lesson about how artists use thick and thin lines.  Your child's job was to paint a pattern using both thick and thin lines.

This was our first opportunity to draw/paint with a specific learning target in mind.  Some students really wanted to paint their own ideas rather than the lines and patterns.  Please know that they do have many opportunities to draw and paint subjects of their choosing as well!

Enjoy your child's creativity which still shines through even though they were assigned a topic to paint!

The 'quiet' before the storm?  ;)

Happy Feet

Introducing our traveling mascot this year:  Happy Feet!

Happy playing Disney Infiniti at Henry's house.

Happy has started making the rounds to homes of children in our class.  He travels in a bag with a book about penguins and a journal.  In the journal, the hosts are asked to write about Happy's adventures while he is there.  Sometime the journal will include a photo (as seen above).

When Happy comes to visit, enjoy his company for a night or two and then send him back with an updated journal!  The children love to hear what Happy has been doing on his adventures away from school!

Most years our mascot gets to visit each home a second time as long as it doesn't get lost!  :)

September's Exploration Table

Each month I plan to set up a table of things to be explored.  This month I was inspired by the fall harvest and falling leaves.  On our table we had:  a dried ear of corn, fresh corn stalk with corn, cat tails, milk weed pods, cigar tree seeds, a snake skin, fall leaves, pine cones and crabapples.  Children were encouraged to take things apart, open them up, and look inside and out.  There was one large table top magnifying glass I found at a garage sale and three hand held magnifying glasses.

The 'after' photo.  I should have taken a 'before' shot!

Next month I have an activity planned that includes pumpkins.  If anyone would like to donate a small pumpkin, I will need three - four total for our activity.  Thanks!